Gaming machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines, and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing machines and the expectation of winning each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are most likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting of the machines.
Consequently, shrewd operators strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines available, because such machines attract frequent play and, hence, increase profitability to the operator. Many gaming machines possess two displays, a main display and a secondary display. In these gaming machines it is not atypical for the main display to be a touch screen video display including a video display overlapped by a similarly sized touch screen. The touch screen is typically adhered or taped to a front panel of the main display. The touch screen allows players to determine and easily select game options during play. The main display provides useable game play space typically segregated into first and second portions. The first portion is dedicated to dynamic game features such as dynamic graphics and animations. The second portion is dedicated to static game features such as player-selectable indicia and text boxes.
As game designers increase the complexity of games, they are constrained by the amount of useable game play space afforded by the main display. For example, the larger the second portion of the video display dedicated to fairly static game features, the smaller the available first portion for presenting dynamic game features. Similarly, the larger the first portion of the main display dedicated to dynamic game features, the smaller the available second portion for presenting static game features.
In existing machines, the secondary display is often used for static game features such as a pay table or other static features designed to help attract players to a particular gaming machine. Recently, the secondary display has been used for secondary games. To create the most entertaining and exciting gaming machine, there exists a need for a gaming machine with a secondary display arrangement that facilitates presentation of both dynamic and static game features without compromising the ability to present one at the expense of the other.